Picture books target a wide audience and may be read in different ways. A picture book is a story told in words and pictures. Each makes an important contribution to the way the story is told, the meaning created. Pictures convey important codes, such as symbolic, written and technical codes. Symbolic codes reinforce readers to consider various meanings for a single image. Written and technical codes further the readers’ understanding of how and why picture books are constructed to entertain and educate such a wide audience by engaging the audience itself. A picture is not the same as an illustrated story; there the words alone could tell the story and the illustrations simply break up the words or decorate the text... In the best picture books, the illustrations are absolutely necessary. They carry parts of the story or narrative and in some cases the language is dropped and the pictures alone are all that is needed. The wonderful combination of visual and textual story that picture books offer is a valuable literary experience to a wide audience.
Picture books are valuable texts as they entertain and educate a wide audience. Picture books are no longer the only domain of the very young. These contemporary picture books have become more sophisticated, encourage multiple readings and often deal with controversial or complex issues relevant to mature readers. The methods in which pictures are illustrated in picture books also contribute to the entertainment and education of readers. For example, simply sketched but precisely coloured drawings suggest the target audience to be young children, although an older spectrum would study in-depth what the style of drawing and emotions implied from colours mean based on their life experiences. The transition from the traditional young target audience into older readers reinforces the idea that picture books have a broad influence amongst people of all ages. Ape is told in third person’s point